Denver Broncos / NFL

Simple rules, enjoyable environment make Pete Carroll super popular

Pete Carroll has had a lot to shout about this season while coaching the Seattle Seahawks to the NFC championship and a berth in Super Bowl XLVIII as a 15-3 team. "We never give up on our guys and we will never fail to be there for them," he says. Adds all-pro cornerback Richard Sherman: "He has shown that you can be positive and get results." (Stephen Brashear, EPA)

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Pete Carroll doesn't make sense. Football is a coach's domain, a place for obnoxious power and eye-shifting paranoia. The NFL makes the CIA look like casual Friday. Carroll has teeth. He smiles. He lets players have opinions and, amazingly, express them. In print. On the Internet, on TV.

"That's our coach, man," linebacker Malcolm Smith said. "He allows us to be ourselves. On other teams you hear guys talk about being afraid of the coach or the man at the top. We have freedom as long as we are doing what we are supposed to."

Head coach of an NFL team is a dream job because of the complete control. Even the president has to deal with Congress. A head coach's biggest annoyance is the media. Carroll jogged back into this NFL world four years ago, leaving Southern California with two national championships and 97 victories — and the NCAA nipping at his heels.

His hiring by the Seattle Seahawks was greeted with shrugged shoulders. He had been a head coach twice before in the NFL. He lasted one complicated season with the New York Jets and, feeling powerless in New England as Bill Parcells' replacement, he left the Patriots without leaving his mark.

Seattle represented something different. Carroll was told he could do what he wanted, which, more than most head coaches, he needed to hear. He isn't unconventional, just built with elasticity. His philosophy is a hybrid of old-school staples with a modern twist. He wants to "win forever," and "practice is everything," but he does it with a pat on the back, not a shaking fist in the face.

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"There's a lot of discipline in everything we do around here," said Carroll, who still talks to mentors such as Bud Grant, who led the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowls, and former two-time Super Bowl-winning San Francisco 49ers coach George Seifert. "But we also celebrate the individual."

It worked at USC. But a college head coach holds the hammer over his players, an environment that forces compliance. Carroll was super successful by any measure. But critics didn't believe his corny tactics and boyish enthusiasm would play with pros.

"He has shown that you can be positive and get results," said Richard Sherman, Seattle's all-pro cornerback.

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson compares the team to a collegiate atmosphere. Carroll makes it interesting, finding unique ways for players to reach their potential. He plays music at practices. Basketball games are played before team meetings. Practices are graded, with "Turnover Thursday" as heated as some games. There is constant competition camouflaged by fun.

"We never give up on our guys and we will never fail to be there for them. We care, and it makes a big difference to us," Carroll said. "Sometimes we go overboard and individuals get out of bounds. Then you have to step back and get them in bounds. We understand that. It might sound different to you, but it's how we operate."

Carroll, trying to bring Seattle its first NFL title, loves the details. For his players, however, he keeps it simple. Beyond making everything a competition, he has three simple rules to raising a championship team:

"Guys have to always abide by them: Take care of the team, no whining/no complaining, and be early. Those are the simplest rules ever," Sherman said.

Seattle's players have reciprocated with accountability. They know there is room for "me in we" as long as they take ownership of the process. Carroll allowed himself to enjoy the moment two weeks ago after Seattle won the NFC championship. He laughed. He hugged. And he walked off the field to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York."

"It is different than what you hear about around the league," Sherman said. "But he's done it his way."

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